This is a first for the National Gallery. It has invited contemporary artists to respond to its collection before, but with Chris Ofili and Mark Wallinger involved in a collaboration with the Royal Ballet to celebrate the 16th-century painter Titian, this is a bit of a glamour injection for a gallery that has sometimes seemed to revel in an old-fashioned image.

I am in two minds. Titian does not actually need to be compared with or spruced up by any living artist to be made "relevant" because in any sense that matters he is a living artist, right now. His colours, brushstrokes, stories, characters – for he is a dramatist in paint – blaze with urgency and excitement.

Who can be bored by Titian? The first time I visited the National Gallery, when I was 19, his painting The Death of Actaeon leapt out at something sensual and real I could relate to. In all honesty, I would rather see a big exhibition about him than a clever modern take.

But this is London 2012. It's a flash place, and the National Gallery cannot always be putting on exhibitions of Paul Delaroche. This exhibition is free and fun. Go and enjoy what Ofili (especially) has done. Then look at the Titians at the heart of the show and fall in love. National Gallery, London WC2, from 11 July until 23 September

Other exhibitions this week

Simon PattersonNew art from the man who reinvented the Tube map. Haunch of Venison, London W1, from 13 July until 1 September

Graham GussinA thoughtful, engaging artist responds to an English parkland. New Art Centre, Salisbury, until 9 September